Quarterly Essay 59: Faction Man: Bill Shorten’s Path to Power

Bill Shorten is the man who would be our next prime minister. David Marr is the nation's leading writer of political biography. Marr's Quarterly Essay profiles of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott ignited firestorms of media coverage and were national best sellers. In Quarterly Essay 59, he turns his enquiring mind toward Bill Shorten. This controversial and brilliant new essay looks at the making of Shorten.

Quarterly Essay 38: Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd

This irreverent, controversial account is sure to be one of the most talked-about publications of election year 2010 - a groundbreaking, in-depth profile that traces Kevin Rudd's years in Queensland, in China, in opposition, and finally in government. Based on extensive research, observation, and interviewing, it examines the forces that have made Kevin Rudd and the way he wields his power. Marr investigates both the fragility of Rudd's hold on the Labor leadership, and considers what he might do with his popularity.

Quarterly Essay 47: Political Animal: The Making of Tony Abbott

In Quarterly Essay 47, David Marr goes beyond the clichés - Dr No, mad monk, gaffe-prone, budgie-smuggling gym junkie - to look at the man as he is and reveal what kind of prime minister he might be.

This is a unique portrait of a unique politician. Marr shows Abbott as part reactionary and part pragmatist, part fighter and part charmer, deeply religious and deeply political. But is Abbott a figure from the past or a leader for the future? Following the explosive Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd, this is certain to be the most discussed political writing of the year.

Quarterly Essay 51: The Prince: Faith, Abuse & George Pell

George Pell: leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, confessor to Tony Abbott. David Marr: the nation's leading biographer and investigative journalist. Cardinal George Pell is the most prominent Catholic leader in Australia at a time when the Church's handling of sexual abuse is being closely investigated. He is also the confessor of prime-minister-in-waiting Tony Abbott.

Quarterly Essay 26: His Master’s Voice: The Corruption of Public Debate under Howard

John Howard has the loudest voice in Australia. He has cowed his critics, muffled the press, intimidated the ABC, gagged scientists, silenced NGOs, censored the arts, prosecuted leakers, criminalised protest and curtailed parliamentary scrutiny. Though touted as a contest of values, this has been a party-political assault on Australia's liberal culture. In the name of "balance", the Liberal Party has muscled its way into the intellectual life of the country. And this has happened because we let it happen.